Chaser & Keeper Guide
The Basics: Your Role and Gear
As a Chaser (white headband) or Keeper (green headband), your primary job is to score goals with the volleyball and defend your hoops. You are the core of your team's offense and defense.
Your Equipment:
- Headband: White for Chasers, Green for the Keeper. Must be worn on your forehead.
- Stick: Must be held between your legs ("mounted") to participate in play. If you're knocked off your stick, you're out of the play until you go back to your hoops.
- Mouthguard: Mandatory for your safety.
- Team Jersey: Must have a unique number (0-99).
Core Responsibilities:
- Offense: Work with your teammates to move the volleyball down the field and throw it through the opponent's hoops for 10 points.
- Defense: Prevent the opposing team from scoring by tackling, blocking, and intercepting the volleyball.
- Communication: Constantly talk to your beaters and fellow chasers about offensive plays and defensive threats.
On-Field Strategy & Positioning
Offensive Play ("Drive"):
- Initiating a Drive: Your team is on offense when you gain possession of the volleyball.
- Advancing the Ball: You must move the ball forward. You can't just hang back in your own half. You're expected to advance past midfield at a walking pace or faster. Stalling or intentionally delaying the game can result in a turnover (Delay of Game - Blue Card + Turnover).
- Resetting: You can carry or pass the volleyball backward across midfield once per drive. This is called a "reset." A second reset is an illegal turnover. You cannot throw the ball backward across a line unless it's a legitimate pass attempt to a teammate.
- Shooting: A goal is good if the entire volleyball passes through a hoop. It can go from front-to-back or back-to-front. (Rule
4.1.1)
Defensive Play:
- Tackling & Contact: You can legally push (one-handed), wrap, and body block the opposing chaser with the volleyball.
- Front Contact Only: All blocking, charging, and wrapping must be initiated from the front. Contact from behind is a foul. (Rule
6.1.9) - No Helpless Receivers: You cannot make contact with a player who is in the air or in the process of catching the volleyball. Forceful contact is a Yellow Card, but tackling a helpless receiver is a very dangerous play that results in a Red Card. (Rules
6.1.7,6.1.13.G)
- Front Contact Only: All blocking, charging, and wrapping must be initiated from the front. Contact from behind is a foul. (Rule
- Stealing: You can strip or poke the ball loose from an opponent. You cannot grab their clothes or stick.
Keeper Zone: Your Fortress
The Keeper Zone is the area from your endline to the keeper zone line. When you are the Keeper (green headband) inside this zone, you have special powers, but only until your team takes the volleyball out of the zone.
Keeper Powers (While "Protected"): (Rule 7.2.2.A)
1. Dodgeball Immunity: You cannot be knocked off stick by a beater's dodgeball. This protection is absolute as long as you are in your zone, regardless of whether you are on offense or defense.
2. Possession Immunity: Once you have sole possession of the volleyball, opposing chasers cannot tackle you or try to steal the ball.
Losing Your Powers:
- Your immunity is temporary! As soon as you or a teammate carries or passes the volleyball outside the keeper zone, you lose all your special powers. You become a regular chaser until that offensive drive ends (your team scores, or the other team gets the ball). (Rule 7.2.2.B)
Restarting After a Goal:
- After the other team scores, the volleyball is "dead." Your team's keeper must be the one to make it "live" again.
- The keeper can possess the ball anywhere in their half of the pitch to make it live. If another teammate touches it first, the keeper must possess it inside the keeper zone to restart play. (Rule 4.2.2)
- Keeper Delay: You cannot substitute out after a goal until you have made the volleyball live.
Common Fouls & Violations for Chasers/Keepers
Stay on the field by avoiding these common penalties.
| Foul/Violation | Common Situation | Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Illegal Contact from Behind | Pushing, wrapping, or charging an opponent in the back. | Yellow Card (Standard Contact Penalty) |
| Contacting a Helpless Receiver | Pushing a player who is jumping to catch a pass. Tackling them is a Red Card. | Yellow Card or Red Card |
| Interacting with Dodgeballs | Kicking or swatting a dodgeball. You can block a live dodgeball with the volleyball, but that's it. | Yellow Card (Interposition Interference) |
| Delay of Game | Not advancing the volleyball with purpose; the keeper not moving the ball out of the zone quickly. | Blue Card + Volleyball Turnover |
| Illegal Reset | Carrying or passing the ball back over midfield a second time in one possession. | Volleyball Turnover |
| Goaltending | As a chaser, reaching through one of your own hoops from the back to block a shot. Only the keeper can do this. | Good Goal is awarded to the other team. |
| Playing while Off Stick | Throwing the ball or tackling someone after being hit by a dodgeball or dismounting your stick. | Blue Card or Yellow Card |